Senate Passes Hate Crimes Protection Act; House To Act Next

The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) welcomes
the progress made Thursday, July 22nd, when the United States Senate
added the Hate Crime Prevention Act (HCPA) to a larger appropriations
bill. HCPA would extend Federal protections in hate violence
incidents when sexual orientation, gender and disability motivate
them. This highly supported, bipartisan measure puts the full
protection of all Americans one step closer to becoming a reality --
regardless of any person's race, color, religion, national origin,
disability, gender or sexual orientation.

"While the Senate's action moves this bill closer to becoming law,
the road to ultimate success for these efforts still stretches before
us," said Jeffrey Montgomery, NCAVP Steering Committee member and
Executive Director of Michigan's Triangle Foundation. "The
significance of continued forward movement on this legislation can
not be understated. It is imperative that the House of
Representatives now follow the Senate's lead and make HCPA the law of
the land"

A second, narrower, "hate crime" measure offered by Utah
Republican Orrin Hatch was also passed in the Senate. The Hatch
measure specifically does not include protection for crimes based on
sexual orientation, gender or disability.

"The second measure is a real hatchet job, hacking-out three of
the most significant motivations for the bill in the first place,"
said Richard Haymes, another NCAVP Steering Committee member and
Executive Director of the New York City Gay & Lesbian
Anti-Violence Project. "We are hopeful that in conference committee
following House action, the proper focus and intent of this
legislation will be restored. In light of the recent spate of highly
publicized hate crimes, which include the dragging death of an
African-American man in Jasper, Texas, the bludgeoning of a young gay
white college student who was left to die tied to a fence in Wyoming,
the shooting rampage of a white supremacist in Chicago, and the fire
bombing of synagogues and double murder of two gay men by two white
supremacist brothers in California, we are trusting that
bipartisanship will continue in this matter, and that a truly
protective law will be passed."